"If You Are But a Dream" is a popular song published in 1942 with words and music by Moe Jaffe, Jack Fulton and Nat Bonx. The melody is based on Anton Rubinstein's "Romance in E flat, Op. 44, No. 1," popularly known as "Rubinstein's Romance".
The song is most closely associated with Frank Sinatra, who recorded it first for Columbia Records on November 14, 1944,[1] with an arrangement by Axel Stordahl. This recording was on the reverse side of a 78 rpm record with "White Christmas",[2] and consequently did very well with "White Christmas" reaching the No. 7 spot in the Billboard charts. "If You Are But a Dream" itself briefly reached the Billboard charts in the No. 19 position.[3] A year later, in 1945, "If You Are But a Dream" was included in the Academy Award-winning short film, The House I Live In, in which Sinatra was featured.[4]
Sinatra recorded this song again for Capitol Records on December 11, 1957,[5] with an arrangement by Nelson Riddle. This recording was first released on the LP This Is Sinatra Volume 2 (Capitol 982). Both the Columbia and Capitol versions have subsequently been reissued on a number of CDs.
"If You Are But a Dream" was featured most prominently in Woody Allen's 1987 film, Radio Days, which features the 1944 recording on the soundtrack.[6]
There is also another song based on the same Rubenstein work. It was written by Al Kasha and Hank Hunter and was called "Forever and a Day". It was recorded by Jackie Wilson for his 1963 LP, Jackie Wilson – Sings The World's Greatest Melodies.
"If You Are But a Dream" was also recorded by a number of other artists.
These include (among others):
